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Tag: scandals
Wife Of Iowa GOP Candidate Convicted On 52 Voter Fraud Counts

Wife Of Iowa GOP Candidate Convicted On 52 Voter Fraud Counts

Kim Phuong Taylor was convicted by a federal jury on Tuesday for orchestrating a voter fraud scheme during the 2020 primary and general elections in Woodbury County, Iowa, and faces up to five years in prison for each of the 52 counts.

Iowa Public Radio reported that the 49-year-old — who is married to Woodbury County supervisor Jeremy Taylor — illegally filled out voter registration forms and absentee ballots on behalf of other Vietnamese immigrants without their knowledge. According to the Department of Justice's statement on Kim Taylor's conviction, she "completed and signed voter forms without voters’ permission and told others that they could sign on behalf of relatives who were not present."

Jeremy Taylor ran an unsuccessful campaign in the 2020 Republican primary for Iowa's Fourth Congressional District, which was previously held by Rep. Steve King. King ended up losing the primary to Randy Feenstra, who also won the general election. After losing that primary, Jeremy Taylor successfully ran for the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors, where he is currently vice chair. Matthew Ung, who chairs the county board, urged Taylor to resign following his wife's voter fraud conviction.

"[Kim Taylor was] Set up to take the fall for him, as they were both involved," Ung said. "There was never a time I didn’t know what my wife was doing to help my campaign."

During Kim Taylor's trial, Woodbury County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Pat Gill testified that he suspected foul play when seeing signatures on absentee ballots that looked like they were made by the same person. Additionally, the prosecution brought two Iowa State University students to the stand, who testified that they had tried to fill out absentee ballots and cast votes for Democrats, only to learn that ballots had already been cast in their name, including for then-President Donald Trump. Both students were ultimately able to obtain new ballots to vote in time for the 2020 election.

Prosecutors argued that finding Kim Taylor guilty of voter fraud was important to safeguard democracy, and that she had worked on campaigns since 2008 and "knew the difference between right and wrong."

Kim Taylor was convicted on 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, 23 counts of fraudulent voting, and three counts of fraudulent registration. A sentencing hearing will be set at a later date.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

George Santos

Santos Staffer Indicted On Wire Fraud And Identity Theft Charges

A paid fundraising staffer for New York Republican Rep. George Santos‘ election campaigns who was accused of impersonating a top aide to now-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy was indicted on Wednesday on federal charges in New York.

“The fundraiser, Samuel Miele, was charged with four counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft in the indictment issued in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn,” CNBC reports. “Miele was charged with four counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft in the indictment.”

“CNBC reported in January that Miele had made calls and sent emails to would-be donors while claiming to be Dan Meyer, McCarthy’s chief of staff, during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, when Miele was raising funds for Santos’ House campaigns those years.”

In May, Santos was indicted on 13 federal felony charges, including fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress. He remains a sitting member of Congress.

As NCRM reported in January, questions had been swirling after reports suggested McCarthy may have known about the false statements on Santos’ résumé, and that the Santos campaign fundraising staffer allegedly had lied to wealthy donors as he impersonated McCarthy’s chief of staff in fundraising telephone calls and emails – all before the election – while McCarthy said nothing.

McCarthy not only appeared to know about the alleged impersonation of his top aide far before news broke of the possibly unlawful act in January, but when confronted appeared to run defense for Santos.

In December, The Washington Times, citing “a GOP insider,” had reported that McCarthy, or at least his aides, knew as far back as August 2021 of the alleged impersonation.

“McCarthy’s aides first learned of the Santos staffer’s behavior in August 2021 when a suspicious donor flagged as ‘unusual’ the contact from Mr. McCarthy’s congressional office.”

In January, when asked by reporters about the possibly illegal impersonation, McCarthy appeared to downplay the issue.

“You know, I didn’t know about that, it happened. They corrected but I was not notified about that until a later date,” McCarthy insisted. “I didn’t know about it until a later date though, unfortunately.”

Rather than directing reporters’ questions to Santos’ office, he offered remarks that appeared to give cover to Santos.

CNN’s Manu Raju reported at the time, “Asked if he had concerns before the election about Santos, McCarthy said: ‘My staff had concerns when he had a staff member impersonate my chief of staff and that individual was let go when Mr. Santos found out about it.’”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

A Million Americans Sign Petition To Impeach Clarence Thomas

A Million Americans Sign Petition To Impeach Clarence Thomas

Only once in the history of the United States has a Supreme Court jurist faced impeachment. The lone instance occurred in 1804 when Associate Justice Samuel Chase was put on trial in the Senate after charges were brought by the House of Representatives. According to Senate records, Chase was accused of "refusing to dismiss biased jurors and of excluding or limiting defense witnesses in two politically sensitive cases." He was acquitted in 1805.

The process of removing a sitting Justice from the nation's highest legal authority is the same as extracting an incumbent president. The Constitution requires a simple majority in the House to approve an investigation into alleged "high crimes and misdemeanors," and two-thirds of the Senate to convict.

Now, nearly 200 years later, the demand to impeach Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is surging.


On Sunday, a petition drafted and circulated by MoveOn.org surpassed a million signatures. And the tally is still growing.

The basis for impeaching Thomas rests on three main points: previous suspicions of corruption, his unambiguous desire to strip American citizens of their civil rights, and conflicts of interest stemming from his wife Ginni's right-wing activism and participation in former President Donald Trump's plot to subvert the 2020 election.

The petition states:

The right-wing rigged Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, effectively taking away the right to privacy and bodily autonomy that's been considered legal precedent for the past 50 years. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas—who sided with the majority on overturning Roe—made it clear what's next: to overturn high court rulings that establish gay rights and contraception rights.

Thomas voted against a Supreme Court decision to compel the release of Donald Trump's records regarding the January 6 insurrection and attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Thomas' failure to recuse himself warrants immediate investigation and heightened alarm. And it's only the latest in a long history of conflicts of interest in the service of a right-wing agenda and mixing his powerful role with his conservative political activism. He has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife's coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court.

He must resign—or Congress must immediately investigate and impeach.

But no matter how many signatures the campaign amasses, the decision to pursue a case against Thomas ultimately belongs to Congress. Considering the current makeup of both chambers, coupled with the ongoing probe into the events of January 6th, 2021, the chance of impeachment proceedings emerging is remote.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Pulling A 'Ted Cruz,' Governor Disappears As Montana Suffers Huge Floods

Pulling A 'Ted Cruz,' Governor Disappears As Montana Suffers Huge Floods

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) reportedly returned to his state after deep speculation about his absence in the midst of historic flooding across the state. Since it has been confirmed that he was vacationing in Italy, he is also facing deep scrutiny for doing so as Montana residents faced the challenges of unprecedented weather conditions.

Twitter users began sharing their reaction to Gianforte's actions shortly after his press secretary Brooke Stroyke released a statement to address the concerns about the governor's whereabouts. It appears to have only made things worse as Twitter users are now slamming the Republican governor and comparing him to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) who fled his state to vacation in Cancun during the bitter winter storm of 2021.


"Montana’s Republican Governor Greg Gianforte pulls a Ted Cruz," tweeted NBC Universal senior executive, Mike Sington. "He’s out of state vacationing in Tuscany while Montana has been devastated with historic flooding. His office had previously refused to confirm where he was."


"The lessons of Ted Cruz's Cancun fiasco seemed painfully obvious," MSNBC producer Steve Benen also tweeted. "Evidently, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte wasn't paying close enough attention."


"Gov. Gianforte was in Italy, his office confirms Friday morning," one Twitter user wrote. "The governor left Saturday for a personal trip to Italy and returned last night. He will be in Gardiner today for a tour and briefing."


In wake of Gianforte's actions, members of the Montana Democratic Party are also voicing their frustrations. On Wednesday, June 15, Sheila Hogan, the executive director for Montana's Democratic Party, sounded off with her concerns. According to The Hill, she also slammed the governor's office and accused his staff of "lying about his absence and 'purposefully obscuring the fact that the executive order was signed by his lieutenant governor.'”

“In a moment of unprecedented disaster and economic uncertainty, Gianforte purposefully kept Montanans in the dark about where he was, and who was actually in charge,” Hogan said. “Again, we ask, where in the world is Governor Gianforte?”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.